After Almost 30 Years, DNA Shows State’s Case ​“Has Collapsed”

On June 26, the Florida Supreme Court over­turned the cap­i­tal mur­der con­vic­tion of Paul Hildwin and ordered a new tri­al because new DNA evi­dence com­plete­ly con­tra­dict­ed the state’s evi­dence pre­sent­ed at tri­al. Hildwin was con­vict­ed of a 1985 mur­der and sex­u­al assault. At tri­al, an FBI foren­sics expert wrong­ly claimed that bod­i­ly flu­ids found at the crime scene matched Hildwin and could not have come from the vic­tim’s boyfriend. However, more recent DNA test­ing exclud­ed Hildwin and found that the flu­ids matched the boyfriend, who is incar­cer­at­ed for the sex­u­al assaults of two minors. In the deci­sion over­turn­ing Hildwin’s con­vic­tion, the Court said, ​“We can­not turn a blind eye to the fact that a sig­nif­i­cant pil­lar of the state’s case, as pre­sent­ed to the jury, has col­lapsed and that this same evi­dence actu­al­ly sup­ports the defense.” Barry Scheck, co-direc­tor of the Innocence Project, which was involved in Hildwin’s appeal, said, ​“As Mr. Hildwin’s thir­ty year quest to free his name so dra­mat­i­cal­ly illus­trates, there is a real dan­ger that the recent­ly enact­ed ​‘time­ly jus­tice act’ could result in the exe­cu­tion of innocent people.” 

Marty McClain, an attor­ney for Mr. Hildwin, said, ​“The DNA evi­dence, [the boyfriend]‘s crim­i­nal back­ground and state­ments by wit­ness­es who prove the crime couldn’t have occurred when orig­i­nal­ly thought, make it obvi­ous­ly clear that law enforce­ment went after the wrong per­son.” Hildwin had been in the car with the vic­tim and her boyfriend short­ly before the mur­der. Police deter­mined he was in pos­ses­sion of items belong­ing to the victim.

(L. Alvarez, ​“Florida Court Overturns Death Sentence for 1985 Killing,” New York Times, June 26, 2014; Press Release, Innocence Project, June 26, 2014). Since 1973, 144 peo­ple have been exon­er­at­ed and freed from death row. If Mr. Hildwin is acquit­ted at a retri­al or charges against him dropped, he might be added to DPIC’s List of Exonerations. Florida has had the most exon­er­a­tions of any state (24). See Innocence; lis­ten to DPIC’s pod­cast on Innocence.